# Any recommendations for a book on American History? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 22, 2010, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-recommendations-for-a-book-on-american-history/526045 "2010-01-22T22:07:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-recommendations-for-a-book-on-american-history/526045/1 "2010-01-22T22:07:55Z")
(If this should be in IMHO please move…was not sure of the appropriate place) A friend of mine is looking for a “fascinating” book on American History. I tried to narrow it down as that is a rather broad target but she was not particular. She is intelligent and finds a variety of topics interesting. She has a good general background in US history so no need for a primer. I know she is interested in things like Supreme Court history and how it works but from a layman’s perspective. Military stuff is not up her alley too much but inasmuch as it is not about the fiddly aspects of this or that battle she certainly would find that interesting. She is also fond of societal struggles (Suffrage, Civil Rights, etc.). So, I leave it to you all to toss in some favorites. Hard to go wrong unless it is some fringe loony theory of government mind control experiments. ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-recommendations-for-a-book-on-american-history/526045/2 "2010-01-22T22:25:44Z")
[Freedom from Fear](http://www.amazon.com/Freedom-Fear-American-Depression-1929-1945/dp/0195144031/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264199045&sr=1-1) is the greatest history book I’ve ever read. Well written and suspenseful. Considering the unrest in America and the chaos across the world, it’s amazing how well things turned out. ---
**Author:** ![Arachne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Arachne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arachne)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-recommendations-for-a-book-on-american-history/526045/3 "2010-01-22T22:29:17Z")
“Band of Brothers” is quite good – military-centric, but much more about people then about tactics and other fiddly military history bits. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-recommendations-for-a-book-on-american-history/526045/4 "2010-01-22T22:40:05Z")
[A Radical Line](http://www.amazon.com/Radical-Line-Movement-Underground-Conscience/dp/0743250273/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264199761&sr=8-1) by Thai Jones. This focuses on his family’s history, and his family includes war resisters, HUAC targets and Weather Underground. A pretty fascinating story; one of Jones’s earliest memories is of FBI agents breaking down the door and arresting his parents. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-recommendations-for-a-book-on-american-history/526045/5 "2010-01-22T23:27:15Z")
_Packing the Court_ by James MacGregor Burns is a good history of the Supreme Court. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-recommendations-for-a-book-on-american-history/526045/6 "2010-01-22T23:32:29Z")
My husband, who was a history major in college, recommends [A People’s History of the United States](http://www.amazon.com/Peoples-History-United-States-Present/dp/0060838655/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264203095&sr=1-1). ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-recommendations-for-a-book-on-american-history/526045/7 "2010-01-22T23:49:15Z")
> [@Drain\_Bead](#): > > My husband, who was a history major in college, recommends [A People’s History of the United States](http://www.amazon.com/Peoples-History-United-States-Present/dp/0060838655/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264203095&sr=1-1). I was going to recommend this. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-recommendations-for-a-book-on-american-history/526045/8 "2010-01-23T02:17:36Z")
I just finished Undaunted Courage. Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson and the opening of the American West. By Stephen E. Ambrose. It is a biography of Meriwether Lewis and is about the Lewis & Clark Expedition and the Corps of Discovery as they crossed the continent by water and on foot to the Pacific in 1803-1805. I liked it a lot. It covers Jefferson’s tutoring of Lewis. Life and politics in Virginia at that time. Relations between the US, Britain and France. The life of the native Americans, descriptions of wildlife encountered, quite a story. The book was #1 on the New York Times best seller list a few years ago and is well written. Gives you a picture of life in the US at a time when St. Louis Missouri was a little trading post on the frontier and the West was unknown territory. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-recommendations-for-a-book-on-american-history/526045/9 "2010-01-23T02:36:42Z")
Undaunted Courage is very good. Flags of Our Fathers is top notch. It is about Iwo Jima but it’s about way more than the battle, it covers the lives of the guys who raised the flag and what happened to them before and after the flag was raised. The movie is very good too. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-recommendations-for-a-book-on-american-history/526045/10 "2010-01-23T02:53:01Z")
> [@ghardester](#): > > I just finished Undaunted Courage. Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson and the opening of the American West. By Stephen E. Ambrose. > > It is a biography of Meriwether Lewis and is about the Lewis & Clark Expedition and the Corps of Discovery as they crossed the continent by water and on foot to the Pacific in 1803-1805. I liked it a lot. > > It covers Jefferson’s tutoring of Lewis. Life and politics in Virginia at that time. Relations between the US, Britain and France. The life of the native Americans, descriptions of wildlife encountered, quite a story. > > The book was #1 on the New York Times best seller list a few years ago and is well written. Gives you a picture of life in the US at a time when St. Louis Missouri was a little trading post on the frontier and the West was unknown territory. Absolutely loved this book!!! Flags Of Our Fathers is also a good read… ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-recommendations-for-a-book-on-american-history/526045/11 "2010-01-23T05:00:44Z")
> [@Drain\_Bead](#): > > My husband, who was a history major in college, recommends [A People’s History of the United States](http://www.amazon.com/Peoples-History-United-States-Present/dp/0060838655/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264203095&sr=1-1). I will recommend this - along with [Freedom Just Around the Corner](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/0060957557/ref=dp_proddesc_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books) by Walter A. Mcdougall. Many of us learned about the winners and heroes of American History, Zinn tells us about the losers and Mcdougall about the ordinary people and scoundrels that made it happen. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-recommendations-for-a-book-on-american-history/526045/12 "2010-01-23T05:26:45Z")
For the societal struggles, a different perspective from Zinn would be [A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America, by Ronald Takaki](http://www.amazon.com/Different-Mirror-History-Multicultural-America/dp/0316022365/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264224227&sr=8-1), which looks at “the economic and political history of Indians, African Americans, Mexicans, Japanese, Chinese, Irish, and Jewish people in America.” It’s a great book, but so depressing that I had to read it one chapter at a time. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-recommendations-for-a-book-on-american-history/526045/13 "2010-01-23T06:51:57Z")
For hardcore American-Studies buffs I recommend [_Generations,_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generations_(book)) by [Strauss and Howe.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss_and_Howe) It assumes general knowledge of American history in the reader, and examines it through the lens of the authors’ pet theory of cyclical generational archetypes. (They have their own [website-with-messageboard,](http://www.fourthturning.com/) BTW.) The theory is as unfalsifiable-therefore-unscientific as any other general theory of history, but very thought-provoking. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-recommendations-for-a-book-on-american-history/526045/14 "2010-01-23T06:57:04Z")
> [@Drain\_Bead](#): > > My husband, who was a history major in college, recommends [A People’s History of the United States](http://www.amazon.com/Peoples-History-United-States-Present/dp/0060838655/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264203095&sr=1-1). A fitting companion volume is [_Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong,_](http://www.amazon.com/Lies-My-Teacher-Told-Everything/dp/0684818868) by [James Loewen.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Loewen) See also [_Sundown Towns_](http://sundown.afro.illinois.edu/sundowntowns.php) (about how, in the history of anti-black racism in America, the South was not, as is usually assumed, the only “scene of the crime” – in the Midwest and West there used to be countless towns where African-Americans were simply not allowed to live, or even stay for one night). ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-recommendations-for-a-book-on-american-history/526045/15 "2010-01-23T09:22:44Z")
_The Growth of American Thought_, by Merle Curti _Art and Life in America_, by Oliver W. Larkin _The Life of the Mind in America_, by Perry Miller _People of Paradox: An Inquiry Concerning the Origins of American Civilization_, by Michael Kammen _The Heavens and the Earth: A Political History of the Space Age_, by Walter A. McDougall ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-recommendations-for-a-book-on-american-history/526045/16 "2010-01-23T11:55:55Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > A fitting companion volume is [_Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong,_](http://www.amazon.com/Lies-My-Teacher-Told-Everything/dp/0684818868) by [James Loewen.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Loewen) See also [_Sundown Towns_](http://sundown.afro.illinois.edu/sundowntowns.php) (about how, in the history of anti-black racism in America, the South was not, as is usually assumed, the only “scene of the crime” – in the Midwest and West there used to be countless towns where African-Americans were simply not allowed to live, or even stay for one night). I came in to recommend Loewen, as well. He’s got another book called _Lies Across America_, which is about inaccuracies in roadside markers. It’s pretty interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-recommendations-for-a-book-on-american-history/526045/17 "2010-01-23T16:46:31Z")
I tried to read Loewen but I stopped because it seemed like to me he thinks 50% of white Americans are racist. I agree there are racists but he goes off the deep end. I wasn’t surprised when I found out he wrote another book about racism. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-recommendations-for-a-book-on-american-history/526045/18 "2010-01-23T16:50:54Z")
> [@MsRobyn](#): > > I came in to recommend Loewen, as well. He’s got another book called _Lies Across America_, which is about inaccuracies in roadside markers. It’s pretty interesting. Gaaaahhhhh!!! Not Loewen again!! Please don’t read Loewen if you are expecting “truth.” I have checked his footnotes. In many cases the sources simply don’t say what Loewen claims they do. _Lies Across America_ is particularly egregious in this department. His books are entertaining, but they are not good history. The man has axes to grind and books to sell. I really wish people would stop recommending him in threads asking for _good_ history books. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-recommendations-for-a-book-on-american-history/526045/19 "2010-01-23T16:58:10Z")
Thanks for the ideas all! I have pointed her to this thread. So rare (in my experience) to find someone willing and eager to dive into history I couldn’t help but encourage it. (Yeah I know there are lots who do but seems so many more who don’t…sadly.) ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-recommendations-for-a-book-on-american-history/526045/20 "2010-01-23T17:02:59Z")
> [@spoke-](#): > > Gaaaahhhhh!!! > > Not Loewen again!! > > Please don’t read Loewen if you are expecting “truth.” I have checked his footnotes. In many cases the sources simply don’t say what Loewen claims they do. _Lies Across America_ is particularly egregious in this department. > > His books are entertaining, but they are not good history. The man has axes to grind and books to sell. > > I really wish people would stop recommending him in threads asking for _good_ history books. Hmm…not to start a GD thread on this but I have people whose opinions I have come to respect (wipes brown stuff off nose) at polar opposites here. I know history can be a bit of a loaded gun on what constitutes the “real” story and what is revisionist but I like to think there is a truth to be had and we should be able to discern that. So is this guy a liar? Espousing an unpopular opinion? Or telling it like it really is? (Note I have no clue either way…never read it) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-recommendations-for-a-book-on-american-history/526045.md?page=2)